The Johnston County Public School Board is expected to vote Tuesday night on a Resolution asking Johnston County Commissioners to place a $253.5 million school construction bond referendum on the November 2022 ballot.
In March, Brooks Moore, Chief of Facilities and Construction, presented the 2022 Growth Needs Update to the school board. The report said six new schools are needed in the next 5 years, along with major expansion projects at six existing school campuses, plus numerous infrastructure and modernization improvements. Mr. Moore said the total price tag is $720 million.
He said an estimated 9,900 additional students will be enrolled in public schools by 2025 and the new schools and expansions are needed to keep up with rapid growth.
On Tuesday, April 5th the school board is expected to vote on a Resolution asking County Commissioners to place a $253.5 million referendum before voters this Fall. That’s about 35 percent of the $720 million officials say they need. Officials said school facilities in the worst condition will be prioritized.
A $253.5 million bond would pay for one additional high school ($102 million), two additional elementary schools ($96 million), and expansions at four schools: Benson Elementary, Cleveland High, Cleveland Middle, and Cooper Elementary ($55.5 million).
School officials said the three new schools, and expansions at four others, would provide capacity for 5,429 additional students and allow for the removal of 146 mobile classroom units.
Currently, 32 out of 44 schools, or 73 percent of schools, are at or exceeding capacity.
Click Here To See A Copy Of The Resolution
$253.5M/5429 students = $46.6k per head. That’s insane. What’s the price tag on ALA’s construction?
It’s truly ridiculous! Where’s all the money in this county? We pay taxes and the money disappears. Covid ESSER money comes in to pay these people to mask, track and trace students and the money disappears. A few years ago there was a deficit in funds then a magic surplus of funds and now no funds again despite no kids being physically in school for many months not utilizing those resources. There should be money around for some of this vs raising taxes.
The budget to maintain is not the same as the budget to expand. The more we grow as a county..the more you will need to service the growth. Think about it this way..If you added 5 extra people into your household and built on 5 extra bedrooms then your utilities and taxes, etc. would go up.
Oh I completely understand but this in money that should have been planned for years ago. jCPS does a horrible job with their finances and planning, that was my point. One minute they are short, the next it’s found and the next they are short again. Tons of money from Covid and nothing to show for it but testing, tracking, tracing, less kids attending schools and less staff to pay. They need a financial audit to see where all this money is going!
Your right. This should have been planned 4-5 years ago but instead they where worried about adding position at central office and giving big raises to the ones who did not deserve it . Now we have to deal with it And let’s not forgot we have to fill positions for all of these schools I would leave the trailers on the campuses for now until schools are built then you can worry about adding on to the others. We had no problem goin to class in trailers when I was in school
For those that complain…Let’s hear how you will fix it..
Should have been planned for years ago! No way to fix it at this point. This isn’t even a fix as by the time these all get built we will need 6 new ones. Poor planning, poor accounting! The planning boards and developers also need to be held accountable and told no to more houses/subdivisions until they can get caught up.
If the commissioners would start treating taxpayer dollars like they would their own money, that’d be a fantastic start.
There is to much growth and it is costing the tax par to much ,stop growth.
Impact fees
I pay taxes and I don’t want to pay more in property taxes. However, when re-evaluations were done a few years ago, the county commissioners (not county school system) made the decision to reduce tax rates and stay revenue neutral. One impact of that decision resulted in less money to handle infrastructure for growth. A complete lack of forethought by the school system and commissioners on building needs as more and more homes and communities have been added has led us to overcrowded schools.
This is extremely unfortunate. Both the school system for bringing their needs to the table, and the county commissioners for not getting accurate information to address needs and growth, are responsible.
The fact that 73% of our schools are at or over capacity with no margin to handle anticipated and imminent growth is a dire situation.
Local Parent go back and look at the check you wrote to the Johnston County Tax Office and let us know what year you payed less property taxes? It didn’t happen. What happened was your property value increased and the commissioners cut the tax rate but in the end you payed more. How is it when you payed a made up number last year of $100.00 and this year it went up to $150.00 and the commissioner’s cut it back to $125.00 a property tax cut? Then instead of property revaluation every 8 years to capture that higher property rate they are now going to do the property revalve every 4 years? At least our commissioners gives us a kiss and leaves a so-called tax cut on the nightstand before easing out the door.
We are paying for Amazon